Well for three months I worked in a research lab in Portugal researching diabetic complication. I was responsible for doing western blots, attaching antibodies to the proteins, and prepping them for immunofluorescence. I also observed open heart surgeries while waiting for the epicardial tissue to deliver back to the lab for analysis. I have experience handling the lab mice as well. I presented relevant papers to the team there.
Other than the internship, I learned how to do gel electrophoresis, cell passaging, PCR, Spectrophotometry, ELISA, bacterial inoculation, DNA plasmid cloning, and many other molecular/cell biology procedures that I've done repeatedly over my undergraduate career.
I haven't sent any recommendation letters with my applications, but my references are the child life specialists that were my supervisors during my volunteering (I did two summers there) and the PI from the research internship.
My ultimate goal is to be a physician but since my GPA took one hell of a drop I have a lot of mending to do. My plan is to be working in something hopefully related to research or maybe clinical while I work on a DIY post bacc, retaking classes I did horribly on. And then maybe doing a master's after, just to fully buffer between my undergrad and grad. It might take 3-4 years to do but I am willing to put in the work.